Summary: Bob follows up with Mohinder in regards to the voicemail left about Hiro.

Date It Happened: March 24, 2007

Log Title Toeing The Company Line

Primatech Hospital Facilities

Instead of working in his lab on Reed Street, Mohinder's been pulled into the Company hospital today. Because it's required here, he's wearing a white lab coat over his civilian clothes. Having just finished up with a new 'patient', he's heading down the hall. There's a clipboard under his arm, and a tray in hand with samples on it. He stops outside one of the doors, checking on the chart placed on it.

And there is Bob. In the hallway, right in his path. "Doctor," he says. On the surface his voice is all honeyed pleasantness, but there's strain pulling his eyes very tight, and this only adds to the effect that he is some sort of warlord frog rampaging the lily pads of a really large lake. "I just got your voice message."

Mohinder looks up and over upon hearing Bob approach. "Ah yes, I was wondering if you had gotten that." He hands off the tray and clipboard he was carrying to another member of the hospital staff. "Hiro's appearance caught me off guard as no one had informed me that he was captured, held and then escaped." Suresh's words are quite to the point and he manages to put a sting there in his tone. One that suggests he's sure the lack of communication was someone's oversight rather than a lack of trust or security issue.

"Things have been spinning out of control while I was otherwise occupied," Bob says quietly. "As you well know. That is a situation that will be swiftly coming to an end." He takes a step forward, to avoid someone pushing a cart of supplies past. It also closes space between them. "What did Nakamura want?"

"I see," Mohinder says somewhat stiffly. "Hiro in custody, then escaping. Sylar getting out of jail on a technicality /before/ we could act when I gave advance notice of his whereabouts. I can see how things have spun out of control." Maybe Suresh is stepping a little out of line with Bob here, but he's frustrated and feeling spread too thin. He's also feeling a little gutsy. "He wanted some of the drug used to suppress abilities. He was feeling responsible for Peter Petrelli's escape, again, something that slipped past me. Should Peter lose control again, Hiro would be able to stop him with the drug. I told him to give me a few days, then contact me for the drug."

Bob gives Mohinder a long look. During the look he says nothing. He listens to the man's frustrations, almost like a confidante. Then he says, "I hear your frustration. It is mirroring a great many of my own frustrations. The fact is I had to go upstate to deal with another series of crisis and I come home to all of these. All of these, and, thanks to a long series of mistakes, the fact that everyone and their brother now seems to know about this company. So perhaps, Mohinder, what you're really telling me under all that barely contained noble ire is that you have some suggestions for me?"

Mohinder remains cool under the look he receives from Bob. He swallows the guilt rising up in his throat as he responds, "Hiro Nakamura, Peter Petrelli, they trust me. They come to me for help, and I'm thrown off guard when I don't know the slightest bit about them. I wasn't even included in the reports on a break-in that /I/ reported to Mr. Madson. So yes, perhaps I do have a suggestion and it involves not leaving me in the dark. I understand that my position is here in the research capacity, but I can do more." And dig himself a deeper hole in the process.

"Well I would do that." Bob says. "Except that there's one thing I've observed about you, Mohinder. You have a very good, very large heart. It's something I admire about you. It's also something that makes you very vulnerable, and it often obscures your view of the big picture. You yourself are never sure who you are with, because you have the unique quality of empathy. It only takes one more likeable person to come around and convince you of the rightness and basic compassion of their actions, and you find yourself unable to truly take a stand one way or the other." He looks Mohinder in the eye. "Our greatest strengths are often our greatest weaknesses. It is not that I do not trust you. It is rather that you are one of the most trustworthy people on the planet, and that makes it difficult to believe you could stomach the hard decisions."

There's a sinking feeling of dread as Mohinder listens to Bob. Is he onto the geneticist? "Thank you for your honesty.." There's a pause as he considers his next words as carefully as he can. "And I must be honest in return. I have felt guilty for informing Mr. Madson of Hiro's plan. I did not want anyone killed or harmed, but I could not help but think of the consequences should the wrong people be freed." Such as Kellie, whom his knowledge is still minimal of. "Yet I am still here, working for and with this Company. I feel that it is here I can do the most good for people with abilities, people who need my.. - our - help." He tries to meet Bob's gaze, but finds himself looking away once.

Bob adjusts his drab jacket as he listens to Mohinder. "Here is what we are going to do," he says at last. "Obviously recapturing Nakamura is a waste of time and resources. Obviously there is such love and loyalty to Peter Petrelli — who has absconded with my daughter, by the way — in the world that any attempt to bring him back under control will merely result in a flood of eager people storm trooping my facilities and trying to spread the word about what they barely understand. Meanwhile, we have bigger threats on our horizon, such as the tornado which we know may come and which we suspect may come through the actions of an Evolved. And which we suspect Sylar may end up being key to. Lets move into my office to continue this discussion. I'm going to give you the increased responsibility you seek."

Mohinder recalls Elle's threat about informing Bob that she was at his apartment, so for now, witholds that information. "This is another instance in which I've heard of this warned tornado… as for Sylar.. I have reason to believe the virus he's contracted still renders his abilities useless. Yet, he is still dangerous, he is out there and I don't doubt for a second that he would hesitate to find me or Molly again." As Bob 'suggests' the change in venue for this discussion, he nods and falls into step with the Company man.

Bob opens the door to his office after a brief walk, and then ushers Mohinder inside. He motions to the desk chair on the subordinate side. He himself remains standing. The loom is subtle, but it is a loom. He is unsmiling as he stares down at Mohinder. "I want you to give Nakamura that drug," he says. "And then I want you to convince Nakamura and Petrelli that they should stay very close to one another and work on hunting Sylar. I want you to 'help them evade the Company'. I want you to convince them that they're our only hope — they'll like that. I want you to convince them to get their entire little Justice League under control and focused on only one goal — watching out for Sylar, and a woman named Kellie whose file I will provide to you and who you will set them on with as little detail as possible. Set them on the hunt for the safety of us all. Turn their attention away from this company and towards the true problems and get them a little less useless. You're going to become a handler. You're going to handle them."

Mohinder settles into the seat as directed once inside Bob's office. He's sure that it wasn't much of a request. He remains silent as he listens and digests what his instructions are. Once Bob is finished, the geneticist speaks, "I already know a little of Kellie, more information on her would be most useful and welcome. She too has been laying low since the park incident I heard about. It should not be difficult to convince Hiro or Peter of this path, as it is the honest truth. Sylar and Kellie are a greater threat, which isn't to say that this Company is a threat." Of course not.

A faint smirk flits across Bob's features at Mohinder's final statement. Of course not indeed. He pulls out a file and slides it across the table. That would be Kellie's file. "When I see how you do with this, and the results that it produces, we'll see about upping your clearance as a matter of routine. Though because things are more dangerous, and because you're wanting to step out of your research role…" He reaches into his desk and withdraws a gun. This, he slides over to Mohinder. "You might need this. If you do not feel prepared to use it under any circumstances I shall have to assign you a partner, which I am more than tempted to do anyway."

Mohinder takes the file and while Bob speaks, he opens it up. The scientist has been eager to know more about this Kellie person. The first few things he sees in the file however, have a horrified look crossing his features. About to say something in disgust, the gun Bob produces distracts him. The weapon is eyed with hesitance, despite once upon a time not so long ago, he had every intent on murdering Sylar. "I hope that I do not need that.. and partner? I prefer working alone. Which I already stated when I accepted your offer to work here."

"Good. Then I can trust you to use the gun if you need it," Bob says, twisting the words around without a hint of remorse. He smiles another one of those faint smiles. He spotted that look. "Hard decisions, Mohinder. You already knew, when you accepted my offer to work here, that this company and our decisions have not been perfect. But we can both agree that having her running around, attacking innocents like in the park, and burning things to the ground is a bad thing /now/, can't we. And that if it comes down to the massive loss of life vs. one clean bullet in Kellie's head, that would be an easy decision to make. A heroic decision. Wouldn't you agree, Doctor?"

Mohinder doesn't take the gun. Yet. That can wait until he's dimissed and ready to leave the office. "That I already knew, yes, but this Company /made/ her what she is. An unstable woman with more power than someone in her state should have. I don't disagree that she's a danger. She's already taken a hostage and created a scene in Central Park." As for whether or not firing on Kellie would be a heroic decision, he leaves that unsaid. Closing her file, he rises from his seat. "I have an appointment with Miss Noyes, and I don't want to keep her waiting." He makes sure the safety is on before picking up the gun. Again, his hand hesitates before he slips the weapon into a pocked of his coat.